The Tabernacle 2

God asked for goat skin curtains, ropes, an ark, an alter, a bronze basin. He asked for spices and incense. He asked for onyx stones and gems, and special clothes for the priests. Maybe it's a type of the space that God inhabits in heavenly places. But maybe, in the mind of a child, it just meant that God had a tent like everyone else who was traveling with them. And, after all, Wasn't He the leader? Didn't God need a tent? Didn't God need a place to sleep, too?

He asked for certain pieces of furniture in His space: a lampstand with olive oil for the lamp, a table outside. A table. And there was bread on the table.

The tabernacle had color: blue, purple, scarlet. Texture: yarn, finely twisted linen, goat skin, seal skin. Gold clasps, bronze tent pegs. Cherubim were worked into the curtains by skilled craftsmen. I bet curious kids were watching. All this commotion over God's house surely broke their usual routine.

God used numbers - not too much, not too little: 50 gold clasps, 11 goat hair curtains. Maybe there's other symbolism involved but in it's simplest form - not too much, not too little
All the parts made a single unit. Apparently that small phrase was important.

God used direction: 20 acacia wood frames on the south side. 20 acacia wood frames on the north side. 5 frames on the west side and five on the other side.

God had a plan. After all, this was His home. Remember the courtyard. Oh, and set it up on a mountain.

The people, men and women, brought all these things from their own homes "as they were willing". Kids lived in those homes. The things that came from their homes may have looked different used in the tabernacle. Jewelry was melted down, women spun yarn. I bet kids were watching.

They worked six days, they rested on the Sabbath - even building God's house- they rested on the Sabbath. They couldn't even light a fire to cook or to stay warm. They ate the usual cold leftovers. Next day they lit their fires and the work continued.

There was bread on God's table. And oil in God's lamp.

The scriptures don't really talk about the children but imagine being there and being a child. Few would enter the tabernacle after it was finished but at this stage everyone brought something that God asked for from their homes to make His home- seeing, touching. How were the kids involved?

When the tabernacle was all put together, God filled that space with His presence- dangerously so. Later, the people would follow Jesus like the Israelites followed the pillar of cloud that filled that tent.

Once the tabernacle was finished, few people would enter it and see what it looked like from the inside. It was a holy place but I bet the kids were watching while it was being built. They surely saw the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They were watching while the tabernacle was being carried from place to place. They were watching the ark to see if someone would touch it and die. Too tempting. Curious kids who didn't have their own work to do might be watching each time the tabernacle was put back together. Special, sacred, a mystery. This was the tent that the cloud would fill, the fire would fill but it wouldn't burn down.

Or maybe one in a million people they wouldn't notice any of this unless their parents were excited about it, talking, and pointing ...

Imagine yourself a child there. Are you a boy? A girl? How old are you? Where would you be? What would you see and hear and smell and touch? What would you think about this very special tent? If you can't imagine yourself a child, think about your own children and their questions. What would they be asking you? What would they want to know? What would you tell them? If you had been a child during this time, what memories would you save to tell your children about the special tent they made for God? What came from your house? What did you learn about God?